Brush your teeth

Dylan doesn't really enjoy brushing his teeth. He doesn't mind it if I'm quick, but if I take too long, he pulls away. I don't want it to be traumatic for him! I had saved this Crest Spinbrush for when he was old enough. He's probably not old enough now, but he likes it!
He's also into puzzles now. He sometimes gets frustrated when he knows a pice goes in a certain spot but can't twist it to the right angle.

Alligator Tears

These pictures make me want to cry now. He's so sad. Dylan dumped his little container of cereal in his lap. I doubt it was an accident, so I was firm with him and told him to pick it up "right now." He knew he upset me so he made his really sad face. I had dragged him to church for the youth Volleyball day and he was tired and hungry. It's so sweet b/c I know he wasn't really trying to be "bad" but I can't just let him get away with it! He definately doesn't think it's funny and he hasn't done it since.

He was overly tired and after I praised him for cleaning up his mess, we cuddled until I had to let go of him and put him down for a nap.

Then I woke him up early to take him to go see the High School Musical on Ice show. He doesn't have it so bad. THANK YOU BONNIE!!!! It was such a fun show! The 1st act was from HSM1 and the 2nd act was from HSM2, which we'll see some day when it's on DVD. Dylan loved the show and pointed at his favorite parts and clapped MY hands.

Vocabulary Interview

Little guy in a gigantic chair
I had my old list of Dylan's words in my hand so I would be able to prompt him. Sometimes he needs pictures or the real deal to prompt him (like Alligator and Bird, for example). He gets distracted b/c he's observant so he did the sign for "flower" in the middle of this interview. He likes to point out things until I acnowledge him.

Catch!

I'm glad Dylan gets a lot of time w/ the boys. They teach him how to be a boy. Dylan loves the open spaces and the change of scene he gets when he's over there. Marc taught Dylan how to catch a ball. By the time I got my camera, I guess he was done. I should invest in some video editor b/c this video is too long.

Not a pro

This is why people pay professional photographers:Dylan and Liam were twins, but we couldn't get a good picture of them together.

The Park

We can't stay inside b/c that's boring. The kids play with all of Dylan's shoes and empty the baskets.
Corrie took the kids to the Gulfport Beach park.The park is fun, but really hot!

La Playa

School has started so our sunny beach days are numbered. We went with Malia's friend to Indian Rocks Beach.
Today we went to Pass-A-Grill Beach

I love his fat feet
Dylan spotted the advertising airplane.
It was perfect for a beach day b/c the water was shallow for a long time. It was like a baby wave pool where Dylan and Malia could walk around and play in the water.

Sparkely water

I oversaturated this picture with color, but I like it:It was too sunny for them to look up at me, but imagine if they had! I love the water peeking over the leaves in the corner here.

Bye Bye

Last Sunday we were leaving my grandma's house after dinner and Dylan was having fun saying bye bye to everybody, and apparently wasn't done once I buckled him into his car seat. He started yelling it and it was so funny.
So Dylan says hi to everybody reading this (and b' bye)

18 month check up

Dylan is over 18 and a half months old, but he just went for his 18 month appointment today. (My forgettful self didn't make the appointment before). He’s right at the 50th percentile for height and head circ. but is just under it for the weight. She said he’s developing right along the right curve b/c he was just under for weight last time too. The doctor also assured me that it’s normal for his belly to be big and didn’t see anything wrong with it. Height – 32-1/4”
Weight – 24lbs, 6oz
Head Circ. – 18-3/4”

I am really happy with our pediatrician. Her nurse is so sweet to Dylan and she even remembered Malia’s name! The nurse went over what vaccines I wanted and didn’t want by looking back through the chart. They always give me info sheets on each one. I don’t want chicken pox b/c I’d rather Dylan catch it like a lot of kids do. (I don’t want him to get it when he’s 14 like I did, so I’ll vaccinate him before his 14th birthday if he hasn’t contracted it by then.)

The nurse sets up the shots all organized with the band-aids all ready for the doctor. I always write down the lot numbers and the expiration dates in case I hear something on the news about a recall. The doctor went over everything with me then discussed her concerns about me not getting the chicken pox vaccine. She doesn’t want Dylan to get some infection from the open wounds b/c there are more bacteria around that are really resistant and she’s seen kids in the ICU with chicken pox complications. She didn’t pressure me into it, but wanted me to be making an informed decision.

The thing I liked best is that she told me that the flu shot she had in stock was not the preservative free kind. She had remembered (or checked her notes) that I had asked about what the preservative was in all of the shots before. She said before that she only uses the preservative free. She asked if I still wanted the one today with the preservative(s) in it. I declined. The Doctor was so nice about it!

Dylan and Malia will be going to preschool when the next baby comes for 2 days/wk so I thought he should get the flu shot before that. (Because of the discussion the pediatrician gave me last time I declined the flu shot.)

So, Dylan cried for the Hep B and the DTaP shots, but got to go home without the flu one.

My only question for her was how many words Dylan should know by now. She said the textbook answer is “20” but as long as he’s developing each week he’s fine. I showed her the list of his words/sounds and signs and she laughed. She said they were cute words and she wasn’t worried. Only the mom is supposed to really understand what each sound is at this point until he’s 2 years old but by 3 years old, other people should be understand him. Oh, and the pediatrician also checks out Dylan’s teeth and asks good dental health questions. I don’t think I’ve told her that I’m a dental hygienist. She asks if I brush his teeth and she makes sure that it’s water in his sippy cup. Little does she know that Dylan likes to floss too!

On our way out we saw Zach! I get to see him every day that I work b/c he goes to work with his mommy (my boss) but Dylan doesn't get to play with him much so we stayed until they calles Zach's name.

My Hero

I wasn't crying over the lost pictures, which is odd for me since I'm hormonal and pictures are so important to me, but of course I did complain to my poor husband.

As most men would, he asked me if I had checked the recycle bin and other areas. I had deleted them from my camera before moving them to the computer, so they were lost. Steven knows that detectives can retrieve photos that have been deleted from computers and memory cards if they want to. He asked me how important these pictures were to me (stupid question) then went to work. He found some software online that magically found my deleted pictures! My Hero!

So here they are:

Dylan is saying "no"

Boys admiring the big stuffed shark.
a Rays touch tank. Dylan was iffy.
Look at that huge manatee! He bumped into the glass trying to get close to us.
Nemo!
and Dori

Lunch break! Malia shared her PBJ with Dylan on a bench while we waited for a table where they ate again.
"Look at that doggy in the window"

There was a cute doggy in this door that barked and wagged its tail. The babies loved it!We went to this public pool right on the beach that the Crews knew about. It's heated year round, so we'll need to go later in the year. Dylan and Malia's favorite pool or bath toys are cups. That's right, not a rubber duck or ball or float or fishy. A simple plastic cup. There are lots of things to do with a plastic cup. They were ready for nap time and each fell asleep as soon as they were in their car seats.If you are as dumb as I am to delete pictures from your camera, I now have cool software that can retrieve them for you - for a small fee:)

Little Chef

Anyone who knows me knows that I don't cook dinner. Sometimes I cook breakfast, but that's more fun. It's still a rare thing.

Steven and/or I usually get home pretty late so we fend for ourselves. I haven't found where it's cost effective to make food at home. If I had a big family, I could see it.

I buy food then it goes bad before I have a free evening to cook it or once we eat it once, it sits in the fridge and the left overs get looked over.

Enough about me. Danielle is a good cook and had the idea that we should cook food for the missionaries in our area. We have 6, so we made 3 sets of each: meatloaf, greenbean caserole, mashed potatoes, rolls, and brownies. We did this as a service project for the girls youth group that we're over. I had fun learning how easy it is to make this yummy food. Dylan was so cute sprinkling the Frenchy's Onions on the tops of the green beans. He's observant and wanted to help. He didn't even know they were edible until the end when I put one in his mouth.

So this was Dylan's 1st service project.

I made the same dinner last night for Steven. It cost more than going out to eat would have b/c I don't have any ingredients on hand and didn't even have a bread pan. It was good practice I guess. I wish we had invited someone over to eat with us, but we don't have a dining room table still, and I didn't know if it would be tasty enough to share or not. Next time maybe.

memory loss update

I think I'm going to blame pregnancy for some of my stupid behavior.

I now need to have a calendar with me at all times or I'm likely to double book something. I should not make any plans without first consulting my calendar. It always works out, but sheesh! I can't remember plans.

Labor Day snuck up on me. I didn't even realize it was today until last Thursday. I worked Thursday and Friday so thus didn't have time to make any cool plans. (Well aperently I made plans to teach a swimming lesson - oops.) I think it would have been fun to go cannoeing w/ a big group including Dylan but oh well. So Steven was at work at like 9pm last night and we made plans to go to Sarasota. Malia and her family went too. We don't have a mini-van yet, so we still had to drive separate.

I remembered to charge my camera battery last night! I got a lot of cute pictures of Dylan and Malia. I even got some family pictures of us b/c it's rare that Steven gets to go on these outings with us. Well, I thought I was clever and renamed that group of pictures. Somehow I selected that group and instead of moving them to Dylan's 18 month picture folder, I deleted them! What's wrong with me?! There's no "edit undo" button for being such an idiot.

I don't think I've done that before, so I'm blaming it on being pregnant. What else can I blame it on? Corrie had her camera too, but I took a lot more pictures. I have the waterproof camera so we took most of our pictures in the pool. We got some of just Malia, so I'll have to sadly tell Corrie about that.

So here's what we did:
We got to the Mote Aquarium when it opened at 10 b/c my zoo pass works there this month for "Swaptember." We got to see Nemo, some sea turtles, and even dolphins. I like the Florida Aquarium better because of the outdoor play area, but I like that this one has a hospital where it takes care of injured animals like the turtles and dolphins.

Here's the one picture that I didn't delete: